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Chapter 39
Translator: Enuma ID
Secretary Choi froze where he stood.
On the other side of the laptop screen, Ji-hun's eyes glinted cold.
The chat window scrolled up fast.
-Ertel : a proxy??
Ënu m̌ а̂ .іd̃_
-SilentRoom : there they go cutting the line again
-BongcheonFireFist : c'mon, knock it off with that!
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-TomatoSoup : proxies always get caught right away lol
-Maheukado : just wasted their money tsk tsk
But Secretary Choi barely registered any of it.
Dazed, he turned to look at the Chairman.
W ĕ.bn̄ о v̄ е̇l Ӗn̂_u ṁа̄
The Chairman said nothing.
He simply sat on the sofa, watching.
Neither his eyes nor his expression had changed much.
Which made it even harder to breathe.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Secretary Choi muted the mic, then asked.
"What should I do, Chairman?"
E n uḿа̊
Just then, Ji-hun spoke.
"Ask what you actually want to ask."
At that, Secretary Choi's lips parted soundlessly.
He was at a loss for what to do.
Ji-hun spoke again.
"No questions, and I'm hanging up."
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Secretary Choi answered on reflex.
"W-wait......"
But Ji-hun didn't wait for him.
Beeep–
The connection dropped, and the study fell silent.
Secretary Choi stared blankly at the dead Discord window before finally turning around.
W̃ ê b ñ о́ v̌еĺ Еn̂ ú m̈ӓ
"I'm sorry."
He kept his back straight as he bowed at the waist.
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The fault was largely his.
He should have improvised his way through it, but he'd been too startled and let the chance slip away.
Then the Chairman spoke.
"Enough."
É ň ûm а̇
Secretary Choi cautiously raised his eyes.
Without taking his eyes off the laptop screen, the Chairman added.
"Head home for the night."
"......Yes, Chairman."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Once Secretary Choi left and the door closed, the Chairman murmured under his breath.
"Not something I can hand off to someone else."
Е ñ ŭ_m̂ à
The broadcast was still going.
The chat scrolled nonstop, and Donation alerts went off here and there.
Ji-hun was giving the next person their Spirit Reading as if nothing had happened.
"Interesting."
The Chairman narrowed his eyes.
Right now Ji-hun had laid down his own rules and was moving only within them.
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And yet people weren't dropping away.
If anything, they were crowding in even more.
Suddenly, what shaman Hae-wol had said came back to him.
「You mustn't look into it any further. And it must not be spoken of, either.」
「You can't, Chairman. That man must not be meddled with carelessly!」
Back then, shaman Hae-wol's face had been drained white with dread.
Е̊n u m a
And that was just from briefly catching a broadcast his third child had been following.
A man who would normally ramble on at length about spirits and karma, that day only kept repeating that he should ask no further.
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The Chairman gazed silently at Ji-hun on the laptop screen.
Now he wanted to see for himself.
But a proxy wouldn't do.
He'd just confirmed that much, plainly.
Е̂ n̆ú mа̌
Which left only one option.
"I'll have to sign up myself."
There was exactly one problem.
The sign-up ran on First-Come First-Served.
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The Chairman stared at the screen in silence for a moment.
"......But how do I even do this."
W е̄bnо̂v̊ е̇ l̂ Éṅ u mа̀
After mulling it over for a while, the Chairman picked up his phone.
When he opened Ocean and pulled up the registration screen, fields like user ID, nickname, and identity verification scrolled up one after another.
He frowned.
He had almost never gone through this kind of process himself.
He absentmindedly went to dial Secretary Choi's number, then stopped his hand.
The Chairman let out a short breath and turned his eyes back to the screen.
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***
It was the next day.
Ji-hun held the subway strap and looked out the window.
The desk and bookshelf for his mom's studies were supposed to arrive today.
She'd obviously try to assemble them on her own and just end up hurting her back.
So Ji-hun headed back to Incheon, partly to put them together for her and partly just to see her face.
Еn u ḿӓ
He got off at the station, and before he'd even walked a few minutes, he was stepping into the sprawling complex of the brand-new apartment he'd recently bought.
Neatly kept walking paths, residents coming and going through the grounds, even the snow piled up soft and thick.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Even the air was different from their old place.
Ji-hun passed through the building's main entrance and got on the elevator.
As the floor numbers climbed, the corners of his mouth lifted on their own.
Ding.
É nüm̀ã. і d̃
After stepping off the elevator, he pressed the doorbell.
His mother's voice came from inside.
"You here, son?"
"Yeah."
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Ji-hun took off his shoes and went inside.
Sunlight poured into the living room.
Ẅе̄b́ nо̇ v̄е l Е̂n̆ u m.а̀
The floor was warm, and there were no more drafts.
Gone were the damp smell and the water stains on the wallpaper from before.
Two unopened delivery boxes leaned against one wall.
They held the desk and the bookshelf.
Mom glanced out the window for no real reason and said:
"It really is nice here."
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"You like it?"
"Mm. I slept right through the night without waking once."
That made Ji-hun smile, a little bashful.
Then his eyes drifted to the dining table.
A few sheets of paper were spread across it.
It was an information packet for the Broadcasting and Correspondence High School.
Е̃n ů mа
A printout laying out the admissions process, and beside it a memo crammed full of his mom's handwriting.
Ji-hun picked it up.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"You looked into this?"
His mom's face went red.
"I just......looked it up once."
"Just, my foot. You've got it all written up, every last detail."
E̊.ň ū ṁа . і̌ d
Mom tucked her hair behind her ear for no reason.
"You're the one who told me to check it out last time."
"I did."
Ji-hun looked back down at the packet.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
It seemed like Mom had truly made up her mind.
And that made him all the happier.
Е̄ n̆ů mа .і̊ d
"That's great."
"What is?"
"It means you're really going to give it a shot now."
Mom hesitated for a moment, then laughed softly.
"Still, I'm a little scared."
"Why?"
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"Going to school at my age, it just feels a bit off, doesn't it?"
"Don't think like that. You're doing it because you want to."
Mom let out a laugh tinged with a sigh.
"All right. I'll give it a go."
Then she turned to Ji-hun and asked:
"What about you, son? Nothing you want to do?"
Еǹu m a
The question made Ji-hun pause.
"Me......"
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The answer didn't come easily.
Mom watched him for a beat, then broke into a small grin and said:
"I'm not rushing you, so take your time and think about it, son."
***
Ѐ ǹ um а̇.і̆d̀
On the way home after finishing the assembly, Ji-hun looked out the subway window.
The darkening scenery streamed past quickly.
What his mom had said earlier kept circling through his head.
「What about you, son? Nothing you want to do?」
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Once, the answer would have been simple.
Land a good job, get settled, live an ordinary life like everyone else.
Èn̆ūm а . і d
That had been all of it.
But not anymore.
The old him had always been the one waiting to be chosen.
Bowing his head in front of interviewers, reading the room out of fear he'd be cut, forcing himself to fit into standards other people had set.
But now it was different.
People came to him first.
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They begged him for a Spirit Reading, lined up, fired off Donations.
Because of his words, some had saved their own lives, and others had dodged disaster.
There were still moments when he couldn't quite believe that his words could change someone else's life.
'......Let's keep going like this.'
Not the side that submits a résumé and waits on the result, but the side that chooses by my own standards and moves in my own way.
When his thoughts reached that point, something inside his chest grew strangely hot.
W̆ӗb̊_ṅоv̂е̄l Еñùm̌а
Once he got home and turned on his computer, Ji-hun checked the time.
There was still a little while before the broadcast was set to start.
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He idly opened YouTube and saw a message from his editor, Lee Min-hyuk.
[Check your inbox when you get a chance.]
Ji-hun went straight to his inbox.
"Huh?"
Е̄ n̆u m̂ а
Advertising inquiries.
Sponsorship offers.
Messages about appearances.
There was even a string of emails from someone who introduced himself as the head of a talent agency's management team.
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Ji-hun slowly leaned back into his chair.
This had already grown past something he could wrap up by earning a decent amount and getting his name out there a little.
Wеb n о v е̄l̇ Ĕ n u_m ã
Once his thoughts settled, he felt strangely at ease.
'Keep climbing.'
All the way to a place where he'd never again have to worry about anyone else's reaction.
His resolve set, Ji-hun closed his inbox.
Now it was time to go live.
***
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On the hour, Ji-hun started the broadcast.
As if they'd been waiting, the chat scrolled up fast.
-Ertel : is it first-come first-served today?
-TomatoSoup : when's roulette?
-Attaliya : pls bump roulette from 2x to 4x a week :(
-XHaru : just do roulette 7x a week then
Wе̄ḃ n̆ о́ v́ е̂l Е̃ n̄u m̊а
Ji-hun skimmed the chat.
"Roulette's staying twice a week for now. So today I'll open it with the Ranking System. All right, taking sign-ups."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Ji-hun opened the Ranking System right away.
Five slots filled in an instant.
Ji-hun called out the first applicant's nickname.
"Yu Sae-bom-nim, come on in."
Ẃ е̄ bnо v̊ ё l Е n̊ù m̀ а̃
A moment later, with a connecting tone, someone joined the call.
"Hello."
A woman's voice, a touch prickly.
"Yeah. Go ahead."
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"Um......I just ask whatever I'm curious about?"
"Sure. What is it?"
W̄ еb̂nov̂ė.l̃ Ėṅúmа̌
Yu Sae-bom spoke with a sigh in her voice.
"Nothing's been going right for me lately."
"......"
"Ever since I moved in, everything feels like it's been going sideways. I keep wondering if I should even stay here. Like, maybe I should just move out, even if I take a loss......"
Ji-hun was about to knit his brow when it happened.
Thud.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
A dull sound rang out over the Discord call.
Thud!
Louder than the last one.
Yu Sae-bom let out an irritated breath.
"Ugh, here we go again."
"Upstairs?"
Ė n.um̊ a
"Yeah. Every day around this time, it's like this."
Thud, thud!
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The drawn-out scrape of something being dragged followed.
The chat reacted at once.
-TomatoSoup : what's that sound?
-YoungPoet : someone dragging a chair upstairs?
W̊ е b̈ ǹо v ӗ l̄ Е̃ ńúm а̄
-Ertel : with earphones in i can hear it crystal clear lol
-BongcheonFireFist : that inter-floor noise is brutal
Yu Sae-bom muttered, swallowing a curse.
"It's like this every single day. Banging away till late at night, and it wakes me up at dawn too, I swear."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
-BongcheonFireFist : gotta report it to building management
She let out a heavy sigh.
Е̊n u m̆ а. i̊ d
"Management? I already tried them. Quiet for a minute, then they're right back to raising hell."
Thud!
Over the call came the sound of something being dropped.
Yu Sae-bom said through gritted teeth.
"I've had it. I'm just gonna go up there and say something."
"......"
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"Why should I not even get to relax in my own home because of that person?"
That set the chat boiling again.
-BongcheonFireFist : i'd have gone up there already
-Maheukado : you only get it if you've lived through it. that stuff drives you insane fr
-Ertel : but honestly just showing up at their door is risky these days
-TomatoSoup : still, at that point you gotta go up and say something
En̊ u m а
It was in that moment.
Ji-hun's gaze froze on empty air.
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A man was ramming his head against the wall, pounding it.
Drool ran from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes had rolled slack.
Then something sharp flashed up.
Right after came a short scream.
Е n̄ ūm̈ а̇
The vision cut off and vanished.
Ji-hun cut her off, flat and blunt.
"Don't go up there."
Yu Sae-bom faltered.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"......What? Why?"
Ji-hun didn't hesitate for a second.
Е n̈ um̄ а
"You knock on that door tonight, and you're not coming back down."
*****
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